EP0147791A2

EP0147791A2 - Dual-tone multiple-frequency-signal generating apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP0147791A2
Application number: EP84115872A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Eiji C/O Patent Division Masuda; Yasuhiko C/O Patent Division Fujita
Original assignee: Toshiba Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Corp
Priority date: 1983-12-26
Filing date: 1984-12-19
Publication date: 1985-07-10
Also published as: DE3483095D1; EP0147791B1; US4639554A; EP0147791A3

Abstract

A dual-tone multiple-frequency (DTMF)-signal generating apparatus of the present invention is provided with a high-group frequency divider (13) and a low-group frequency divider (14) for dividing a reference frequency signal into high-group frequencies and low-group frequencies, respectively. The respective outputs from the high-group divider (16) and the low-group divider (17) are supplied to a high-group-sine-wave-signal generator (16) and a low-group-sine-wave-signal generator (17). The high- and low-group-sine-wave-signal generators (16, 17) comprise a plurality of bi-stable circuits (D, through D₁₈) and include shift registers (28, 38) for sequentially shifting a divided input signal within a predetermined period, a plurality of switches (S₁ through S₁₈) which selectively pass high or low level signal corresponding to the outputs of the respective bi-stable circuits, and a plurality of capacitive elements (C₁ through C₁₈) in which the terminals on one side thereof are supplied with the high or low level passed by the plurality of switches, and the terminals on the other side thereof are commonly connected, the high or low level being applied to the common connection for every cycle of the shift registers to produce the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals from the common connection. The respective sine wave signals are level converting by a high-group level converter comprising a capacitor (C_H1) and a switch (42) and by a low-group level converter comprising a capacitor (C_H2) and a switch (46). The level converted high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are combined by a mixer (53) comprising buffer amplifiers (OP₁, OP₂), resistors (R,, R₂) and a transistor (Tr,), thereby obtaining a DTMF signal.

Description

The present invention relates to a dual-tone multiple-frequency (DTMF)-signal generating apparatus for use with a telephone communication system, and particularly relates to an apparatus for generating a DTMF signal, corresponding to a key operation of a push button phone, and transmitting it on a standard telephone communication line.
A conventional DTMF signal generating apparatus divides a reference clock signal, generated from a reference oscillating circuit, into each row and column of an actuated key, and produces a DTMF signal corresponding to the actuated key by transforming the frequency-divided signals into sine waveforms with different respective standard frequencies.
A prior art DTMF signal generating apparatus cannot oscillate unless the communication line voltage is above 3.0 V to 3.5 V, and current dissipation is high because of the high frequency, for example, 3.58 MHz, of a frequency clock signal from the reference oscillating circuit.
However, the line voltage of an actual telephone communication line may decrease to about 1.5 V to 2.0 V. With such low voltage, the prior art DTMF signal generating apparatus cannot be operated. Furthermore, in a prior art DTMF signal generating apparatus, the current dissipation is high, and the construction of the frequency divider is complicated. Furthermore, a 3.58 MHz crystal resonator used for the reference oscillating circuit is costly.
To eliminate such drawbacks, lowering the frequency of the reference clock signal has been considered in order to decrease the current dissipation and to operate at a lower voltage.
However, simply lowering the frequency of the reference clock signal makes it difficult to determine the frequency division ratio for dividing the clock signal into standard frequencies for each row and column of the key matrix, and makes the construction of the frequency divider more complicated, thereby making it difficult to product a highly accurate DTMF signal.
Therefore, a DTMF signal generating apparatus which has a simple construction and low cost and which can operate with high stability and lower voltage has been in demand.
In addition to the above, an integrated DTMF signal generating apparatus with CMOS devices has been in strong demand.
An object of the present invention is to provide a DTMF signal generating device which has a simple construction and low cost, operates at a lower voltage, and facilitates integration.
To achieve the above object, a DTMF signal generating apparatus according to the present invention comprises:

key input means which is arranged in a matrix; reference-frequency-signal generating means for generating a reference frequency signal;
frequency dividing means for dividing, corresponding to a key actuated by said key input means, the reference frequency signal from said reference-frequency-signal generating means and for producing first and second frequency-divided signals;
sine-wave-signal generating means for generating respective first and second sine wave signals having approximately the same cycles as those of first and second standard frequencies using the first and second frequency-divided signals from said frequency dividing means;
first level converting means with high input impedance for receiving and level converting the first sine wave signal;
second level converting means with high input impedance for receiving and level converting the second sine wave signal; and
mixing means connected to said first and second level converting means for combining the level converted first and second sine wave signals output from said first and second level converting means.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanied drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram with a partial circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a DTMF signal generating apparatus of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a detailed circuit diagram showing a reference oscillating circuit in the embodiment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a detailed circuit diagram of a high-group frequency divider in the embodiment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a detailed circuit diagram of a programmable status detector 21 shown in Fig. 3;
Figs. 5A through 5D are timing charts showing an operation of the high-group frequency divider shown in Fi ^g. 3;
Fig. 6 is a detailed circuit diagram of a low-group frequency divider in the embodiment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 7 is a detailed circuit diagram of a programmable status detector shown in Fig. 6;
Figs. 8A through 8E are timing charts for explaining an operation of the low-group frequency divider in Fig. 5;
_Fig. 9 is a detailed block diagram of a high-group-sine-wave generator in the embodiment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 10 is a detailed circuit diagram of a switch circuit in the high-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 9;
Figs. 11A through 11T and Figs. 12A through 12C are timing charts for explaining an operation of the high-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 9;
Fig. 13 is a detailed block diagram of the low-group-sine-wave generator shown in Fig. I;
Figs. 14A through 14C are timing charts for explaining the operation of the low-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 13;
Figs. 15A and 15B are views for explaining the prior-art sine-wave generator;
Fi ^g. 16 is a block diagram showing a modified low-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 13;
Figs. 17A through 17D are timing charts of the low-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 16;
Fig. 18 is a block diagram showing a modified high-group-sine-wave generator in Fig. 9;
Fig. 19 is a block diagram showing an output-signal-mixing circuit for the respective low- and high-group-sine-wave generators in Figs. 9 and 13;
Figs. 20A and 20B show prior art output-signal-mixing circuits;
Fig. 21 is a detailed circuit diagram of the output-signal-mixing circuit in the embodiment of Fig. I; and
Figs. 22 through 25 are modified circuits of the output-signal-mixing circuit in Fig. 1.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described referring to the drawings.
In Fig. 1, a reference oscillator 11 comprises an inverter lla, a resistor 11b, a ceramic resonator llc having a natural frequency of 480 KHz, capacitors 11d and lle, an N channel MOS transistor llf and a NOR circuit llg. When a power down signal PD from a keyboard interface circuit 12 (to be described later) is active, namely, whose level is high, the transistor llf turns on. Then, the oscillation is ceased, and the NOR circuit llg is gated to produce a low level signal, thereby deactivating the reference oscillator 11.
On the other hand, when the power down signal PD is inactive, namely, whose level is low, the transistor llf turns off. Then, the oscillation starts and the NOR circuit llg is opened, thereby enabling the reference oscillator to produce a 480 KHz reference clock signal CK.
The reference clock signal CK is supplied to each clock input terminal CKIN of a high-group frequency divider 13 and a low-group frequency divider 14. Further, the power down signal PD is supplied to each reset input terminal R of the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14. Therefore, when the power down signal PD is active, the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14 are deactivated.
On the other hand, when the signal PD is inactive, the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14 are enabled to thereby divide the reference clock signal CK according to a frequency division ratio from a keyboard interface circuit 12.
The keyboard interface circuit 12 generates frequency division ratios for a column and row corresponding to any actuated key among the twelve keys, arranged in three columns and four rows, in a key operation section 15 shown in the dotted lines. The key operation section 15 having three column signal lines CC₁ through CC₃ and four column signal lines R₁ through _R4 activates the column and the row signal lines CC₁ through CC₃ and R₁ through R₄ on which the actuated key is located. For example, when the key "5" is actuated, the column signal line CC₂ and the row signal line R₂ become active.
As described above, when any one of the column signal lines CC₁ through CC₃ and the row signal lines R₁ through R₄ is active, the keyboard interface circuit 12 feeds 3-bit high-group-frequency-division ratio (HGFDR) data KC₁ through KC₃ corresponding to a column to a high-group frequency divider 13 as well as feeds 4-bit low-group-frequency-division ratio (LGFDR) data KR₁ through KR₄ corresponding to a row to a low-group frequency divider 14. For example, as described above when the key "5" is actuated, data of "0, 1, 0", corresponding to the active column signal line CC₂, is produced as the HGFDR data KC₁ through KC₃, and the data of "0, 1, 0, 0", corresponding to the active row signal line R₂, is produced as the LGFDR data KR through KR₄.
The keyboard interface circuit 12 activates and deactivates the power down signal PD; the level of the signal PD will be high when none of the keys are actuated, and the level thereof will be low, when the column and row signal lines CC₁ through CC₃ and R₁ through R₄ are active due to any key being actuated.
According to the HGFDR data KC₁ through KC₃ and the LGFDR data KR₁ through KR₄ produced above, the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14 divide the reference clock signal CK. The high-group frequency divider 13 receives the HGFDR data KC₁ through KC₃, corresponding to the active column signal line CC₁, to divide the reference clock signal CK of 480 KHz by 22. Furthermore, the high-group frequency divider 13 receives the HGFDR data KC_I through KC₃, corresponding to the active column signal lines CC₂ and CC₃, to divide the reference clock signal CK by 20 and 18, respectively.
The low-group frequency divider 14 receives the LGFDR data KR₁ through KR₄, corresponding to the active row signal line R₁, to divide the reference clock signal CK by 43. Furthermore, the low-group frequency divider 14 receives the LGFDR data KR_l through KR₄ corresponding to the active row signal lines R₂, R₃ and R₄ to divide the reference clock signal CK by 39, 35 and 32, respectively.
The above division factors "22", "20", "18", "43", "39", "35" and "32", to be described later in detail, are selected to achieve standard frequencies for every column and row of the key operation section 15.
A high-group frequency-divided signal (HGFD signal) ø_H and a low-group frequency-divided signal (LGFD signal) ø_L, divided by the high-group frequency divider 13 and the low-group frequency divider 14, are supplied to the input terminals IN of the high-group-sine-wave generator 16 and the low-group-sine-wave generator 17, respectively. These high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17 are deactivated when receiving, at their reset terminals R, the active power down signal PD and activated when receiving the inactive power down signal PD.
The high-group-sine-wave generator 16 generates a stepped high-group-sine-wave signal, which has a cycle of the HGFD signal ø_H divided by 18 and which varies its voltage level for every half cycle of the HGFD signal ø_H. The low-group-sine-wave generator 17 generates a stepped low-group-sine-wave signal, which has a cycle of the low-group frequency-divided signal (LGFD signal) ø_L divided by 16 and which varies its voltage level for every half cycle of the LGFD signal ø_L. That is, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are produced by dividing the HGFD signal $_H and the LGFD signal ø_L by 18 and 16, respectively. The division factors "18" and "16" are also selected to achieve the standard frequencies for the respective columns and rows of the key operating section 15.
The high- and low-group-sine-wave signals from the high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17 are combined by an output-signal-mixing circuit 18 to produce the DTMF signal corresponding to an activated key.
The DTMF signal is sent through an output terminal 19 to a telephone communication line (not shown), a switching unit (not shown) and so on. The power down signal PD is also supplied to a reset input terminal of the output-signal-mixing circuit 18. The output-signal-mixing circuit 18 is deactivated when the signal PD is active and vice versa.
As described above, the reference clock signal CK output from the reference oscillator 11 is divided in the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14 according to the division ratio for the column and row on which the activated key is located. Then, the HGFD signal φH and the LGFD signal φL are divided by 18 and 16 in the high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17, respectively.
The output frequencies of high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14 and the output frequencies of high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17 are summarized in TABLE I. The table refers to the period when the column and row signal lines CC₁ through CC₃ and R₁ through R₄ become active.
As is apparent from TABLE I, the low-group frequency divider 14 divides the reference clock signal CK of 480 KHz by 43 to produce the LGFD signal φL of 11.16 KHz when the row signal line R₁ is activated. As a result, the low-group-sine-wave generator 17 divides the LGFD signal φL of 11.16 KHz by 16 to produce a divided low-group-sine-wave signal of 697.7 Hz. The thus produced low-group-sine-wave signal of 697.7 Hz has a deviation of only 0.1% against the standard frequency of 697 Hz, which is predetermined for the row signal line R₁. Therefore, an extremely accurate frequency for the row signal line R₁ can be obtained. Similarly, the corresponding rated frequencies for other signal lines R₂ through R₄ and CC₁ through CC₃ can be obtained.
The overall operation has thus been described, and now the detailed construction of the respective portions and their operations will be described. Fig. 2 shows a reference oscillator 11 in which the inverter lla comprises a P channel MOS transistor Q₁ and an N channel MOS transistor Q₂ as shown. An input and output resistors llh and lli are connected to input and output terminals of the inverter lla, respectively. The upper portion other than the connecting terminals llj and llk in the figure is integrated with CMOS devices. The output resistor lli, the ceramic resonator llc and the capacitors lld and lle are externally connected thereto. Further, 11ℓ denotes an input terminal to which the power down signal PD is supplied, llm denotes an output terminal connected to the clock input terminals (CKIN) of the high- and low- group frequency dividers 13 and 14, and lln denotes a power supply terminal to which a DC voltage (+V) is applied.
The ceramic resonator llc has the characteristic of a reference frequency of 480 KHz, a frequency tolerance of ±0.5%, a resonant resistance of 20 Ω or less, an antiresonant resistance of 70 KΩ or more and a temperature stability of ±0.3% (-20°C through +80°C). The resistance llb performs a feedback function; the value of which is normally about 1 MΩ. The values of the input and output resistors llh and lli are about 1 KΩ, respectively, and the values of the capacitors lld and lle are approximately 100 PF.
Using the MOS transistors, the above reference oscillator 11 can perform a fully stable oscillation even at a voltage as low as 1.5 V through 2.0 V and is adapted to CMOS integration. Furthermore, since the reference clock signal CK is lowered to 480 KHz from the prior 3.58 MHz, operating dissipation current defined by a frequency x voltage x char^ge/discharge capacitance can be remarkably reduced. Furthermore, the ceramic resonator llc is costly compared to a prior art crystal resonator.
The reference clock signal CK is selected to satisfy the following three conditions:

i) The frequency value of the signal CK must be low to reduce the dissipation current while enabling fully stable oscillation even at a voltage as low as 1.5 V through 2.0 V,
ii) The frequency value must be high so as to enable the various frequency dividers in the downstream to perform stable dividing operations, and
iii) As shown in TABLE I, each frequency division ratio must be a simple integer, and its value must be set so as to produce a fully approximate frequency to the standard frequency.

The frequency of the reference clock signal CK is not necessarily 480 KHz, but some deviation from 480 KHz may be allowed.
- Fig. 3 shows a high-group frequency divider 13. The high-group frequency divider 13 is functionally a programmable frequency divider and comprises a 4-bit shift register 20, a programmable status detector 21 and a binary counter 22. The 4-bit shift register 20 comprises four serially connected D type flip-flop circuits 20a through 20d (hereafter referred to as a DFF circuit). Each output terminal Q of the DFF circuits 20c and 20d is supplied to an EX-NOR circuit 20e, the output of which is supplied to the input terminal D of the DFF circuit 20a.
The respective clock input terminals CK of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d are connected to the input terminal 20f to which the reference clock signal CK is supplied. The input terminal 20g receiving the power down signal PD is connected through an OR circuit 20h to the respective reset input terminals R of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d. When any key in the key operating section 15 is actuated and the power down signal PD is inactive, that is, becomes low level, the reference oscillator 11 is driven to produce the reference clock signal CK shown in Fig. 4B. As a result, the 4-bit shift register 20 starts to operate, and the respective outputs of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d are supplied to the programmable status detector 21.
The programmable status detector 21 comprises, as shown in Fig. 4, multi-input AND gates 81a through 81c, a multi-input OR gate 82, the inputs of which are outputs of the AND gates 8la through 81c, and inverters 83a through 83d which invert the respective outputs of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d.
The programmable status detector 21 performs a logical operation on the respective outputs of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d according to the HGFDR data KC₁ through KC₃ and divides the reference clock signal CK according to the division ratio specified by the HGFDR data KC_l through KC₃ to produce the divided pulse signal shown in Fig. 5.
The divided pulse signal is supplied through the OR circuit 20h to the respective reset terminals R of the DFF circuits 20a through 20d to reset the 4-bit shift register 20 each time the signal level becomes high. Furthermore, the divided signal is supplied to the binary counter 22 to be level inverted at its respective leading edge to thereby produce the HGFD signal §_H shown in Fig. 5D. The programmable status detector 21 controls and produces the HGFD signal φH in such a way that the ratio between the high and low level periods of the HGFD signal φH becomes approximately 50%. The HGFD signal §H, output from the binary counter 22, is supplied through the output terminal 23 to the high-group-sine-wave generator 16.
Fig. 6 shows the low-group frequency divider 14. The low-group frequency divider 14 is also functionally a programmable divider and comprises a 6-bit shift register 24, a programmable status detector 25, and a set-reset type flip-flop circuit 26 (hereafter referred to as R-S FF circuit) comprised of NOR circuits 26a and 26b. The 6-bit shift register 24 comprises six serially connected DFF circuits 24a through 24f. The respective Q outputs of the DFF circuits 24e and 24f are supplied to the EX-NOR circuit 24g whose output is supplied to the input terminal D of the DFF circuit 24a.
The respective input terminals CK of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f are connected to the input terminal 24h to which the reference clock signal CK is supplied. The input terminal 24i to which the power down signal PD is supplied is connected to the respective reset terminals R of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f through the OR circuit 24j. When any key of the key operating section 15 is actuated and the power down signal PD is inactive or becomes low in level, as shown in Fig. 8A, the reference oscillator 11 is driven to produce the reference clock signal CK as shown in Fig. 8B. As a result, the 6-bit register 24 is activated and the respective outputs of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f are supplied to the programmable status detector 25.
The programmable status detector 25 is comprised of, as shown in Fig. 7, multi-input AND gates 84a through 84h, a multi-input OR gate 85b, the inputs of which are outputs of the AND gates 84e through 84h, and inverters 86a through 86f which invert the respective outputs of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f. The programmable status detector 25 performs an arithmetic operation on the outputs of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f according to the LGFDR data KR₁ through KR₄, and divides the reference clock signal CK according to the LGFDR data KR₁ through KR₄ to produce the divided pulse signals as shown in Figs. 8C and 8D. One of the divided pulse signal (Fig. 8C) is supplied through the OR circuit 24j to the reset input terminals R of the DFF circuits 24a through 24f to reset the 6-bit shift register 24 when it is at a high level. These divided pulse signals are supplied to the R-S FF circuit 26 to be set at the leading edge of the divided pulse in Fig. 8D and to be reset at the leading edge of the divided pulse in Fig. 8C. As a result, the LGFD signal φL is produced. The programmable status detector 25 controls and outputs the divided pulse signal in such a way that the ratio between the high and low level periods of the LGFD signal φL is approximately 50%. The LGFD signal φL is output through the output terminal 27 to the low-group-sine-wave generator 17.
Fig. 9 shows a high-group-sine-wave generator 16. The eighteen DFF circuits D_I through D₁₈ are serially connected to construct a 9-bit shift register 28. The odd-numbered DFF circuits D_l, D₃, ^D ₅, D₇, D₉, D₁₁, ^D ₁₃, _D15 and _D17 have the clock input terminais φ connected to the input terminal 28a to which the HGFD signal φH is supplied. In other words, the odd-numbered DFF circuits D₁* to D₁₇ latch the signal supplied to the input terminal D at the leading edge of the HGFD signal φH and the output from the output terminal Q. On the other hand, the even-numbered DFF circuits D₂, D4, D₆, D₈, D₁₀, D₁₂, ^D ₁₄, D₁₆ and D₁₈ have clock input terminals φ connected to the input terminal 28a. In other words, the even-numbered DFF circuits D₂ to D₁₈ latch the signal supplied to the input terminal D and the outputs from the output terminal Q at the trailing edge of the HGFD signal φH.
The reset input terminals R of the DFF circuits D₁ through D₁₈ are commonly connected to the input terminal 28b to which the power down signal PD is supplied. Furthermore, the output terminal Q of the final DFF circuit D₁₈ of the 9-bit shift register 28 is connected through the inverter 28c to the input terminal D of the DFF circuit D₁ as well as to an input terminal on one end of the NOR circuit 29.
The switch circuits S₁ through S₁₈ serve to selectively supply the reference voltages V_R1 and V_R2 output from the reference voltage generator 32 to the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ in accordance with the outputs of the _DFF circuits D₁ through D₁₈. An example of the switch circuits S₁ through S₁₈ is shown in Fig. 8. The input terminal 33 to which one of the outputs of the DFF circuits D_l through D₁₈ is supplied is connected to a control electrode of a P channel MOS transistor 34 as well as to a control electrode of a P channel MOS transistor 36 through an inverter 35. One control electrode of the transistors 34 and 36 is connected to the power supply lines 32a and 32b to which the reference voltages V_R1 and V_R2 are applied, and the other control electrodes thereof are commonly connected to the output terminal 37 which is connected to the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈. As a result, when the output-Q level of any of the DFF circuits D_l to D₁₈ becomes high, the transistor 34 turns on, thereby producing a reference voltage V_R1 to the output terminal 37. On the other hand, when the output Q level of any of the DFF circuits D₁ to D₁₈ becomes low, the transistor 36 turns on, thereby producing the reference voltage V_R2 to the output terminal 37.
The relation between the reference voltages V_R1 and V_R2 is expressed by:
The reference voltage V_R1 may be a power supply voltage.
Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 9, the power supply line 32a to which the reference voltage V_R1 is applied is connected to the other terminal of the switch 31. The output terminal Q of the DFF circuit D₁ is connected to the input terminal of the NOR circuit 29. The switch 31 turns on and off when the output of the NOR circuit 29 is at high and low levels, respectively.
An operation of the high-group-sine-wave generator 16 as constructed above will now be described. Supposed that the HGFD signal φH shown in Fig. 11A is supplied to the input terminal 28a. As a result, the output frequency of the DFF circuits D₁ through D₁₈, as shown in Figs. 11B through 11S, equals that of the HGFD signal φH divided by 18, and its phase is half shifted to the signal φH. As shown in Fig. 11T, the output level of the NOR circuit 29 becomes high for a period that is half that of the HGFD signal φH for every output cycle of the DFF circuit divided by 18 (see Fig. 11B). Hereafter, the output level of the rising NOR circuit 29 is taken as an RCH signal being generated.
Suppose, as shown in Fig. 11T, that the RCH signal is generated at time t₁. Then, the switch 31 turns on, and the reference voltage V_RI from the reference voltage generator 32 is produced through the switch 31 to the output terminal. Fig. 12B shows a characteristic of a voltage level at the output terminal 30. In order to facilitate understanding, the same symbols are used in Figs. 12A through 12C as in Figs. 11A through 11T for obtaining the coincidence of time, and the HGFD signal φH and the RCH signal are also shown in Figs. 12A and 12C, respectively.
When the RCH signal is generated at the time t₁, the reference voltage V_R1 is generated at the output terminal 30. At this time, as is apparent from Figs. 11A through 11T, all the output levels of the DFF circuits D₁ through D₁₈ are low. Therefore, the switch circuits S₁ through S₁₈ pass the reference voltage ^V _R1 to the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈. In other words, the reference voltage V_R1 is applied across the capacitors _Cl through ^C ₁8.
At the next trailing edge of the HGFD signal φH after the time t₁, namely, at the time t₂ as shown in Fig. 11B, the output Q level of the DFF circuit D₁ is inverted to be high, thereby rendering the RCH signal level low. Thus, the switch 31 turns off, and the reference voltage V_R2 is output to the capacitor C₁ through the switch circuit S₁. At this time, the voltage fluctuation appearing at the output terminal 30 is expressed by:
wherein C_H is the parallel combined capacitance of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈. Therefore, the voltage appearing at the output terminal 30 will be:
From equation (1), the voltage value expressed by equation (2) becomes lower than the reference voltage V_R1 as shown in Fig. 12B.
When the output Q level of the DFF circuit D₂ is inverted to be high at the trailing edge of the subsequent HGFD signal φH after the time t₂, namely, at t₃ as shown in Fig. 11C, the switch circuit S₂ passes the reference voltage V_R2 to the capacitor C₂. Thus, the voltage appearing at the output terminal 30 will be:
the value of which is lower than the value expressed by equation (2) as shown in Fig. 12B.
As described above, since the respective outputs Q of the DFF circuits D₃ through D₁₇ are sequentially level inverted to be high, the voltage at the output terminal 30 becomes gradually lower for every half period of the HGFD signal φH, as shown in Fig. 12B.
Now at time t₄, when the output Q level of the DFF circuit D_l8 is inverted to be high, as shown in Fig. 115, the switch circuit S₁₈ passes the reference voltage _VR2 to the capacitor C₁₈. Therefore, the voltage appearing at the output terminal 30 will be:
Thus, half the period of the stepped high-group-sine-wave signal is obtained.
The capacitance of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ is a factor to determine the magnitude of the voltage fluctuation. Therefore, in Fig. 9 the capacitances of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ are set to be symmetrical. That is, the capacitances of the left most and right most capacitors C₁ and C₁₈ are minimum, and those of the center capacitors Cg and C₁₀ are maximum. The capacitances of the capacitors C₂ to C₈ and ^C ₁₅ to C₁₁ gradually become greater. Thus, as shown in Fig. 12B, the stepped voltage fluctuation of the high-group-sine-wave signal is controlled to be approximate to the genuine sine wave.
At time t₄, the voltage across the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ in Fig. 9 becomes the reference voltage VR₂.
At the leading edge of the HGFD signal φH after time t₄, namely, at time t₅ as shown in Fig. 11B, when the output Q level of the DFF circuit D₁ is inverted to be low, the switch circuit S₁ passes the reference voltage V_R1 to the capacitor C₁. Therefore, the voltage generated at the output terminal 30 will be:
In view of the equation (1), the voltage value expressed by the equation (5) becomes higher than the reference voltage VR₂, as shown in Fig. 12B.
At the trailing edge of the next HGFD signal φH after the time t₅, namely, at the time t₆ as shown in Fig. 11C, when the output Q level of the DFF circuit _D2 is inverted to be low, the switch circuit S₂ passes the reference voltage V_R1 to the capacitor C₂. Therefore, the output voltage at the output terminal 30 will be:
Therefore, the voltage value becomes higher than the value expressed by equation (5), as shown in Fig. 12B.
As described above, since the output Q levels of the DFF circuits D₃ through D₁₇ are sequentially inverted to become low, the voltage appearing at the output terminal 30 becomes sequentially higher for every half cycle of the HGFD signal φH, as shown in Fig. 12B.
At time t₇, as shown in Fig. 11S, when the output Q level of the DFF circuit D₁₈ is inverted to become low, the RCH signal is generated as shown in Fig. 11T. Then, the switch 31 is turned on and the voltage at the output terminal 30 is returned to the original reference voltage V_R1. As a result, the first cycle of the high-group-sine-wave signal is completed.
Fig. 13 shows a low-group-sine-wave generator 17. The low-group-sine-wave generator 17 has a similar construction to that of the high-group-sine-wave generator 16. Thus, the same numerals are used for the same parts in Fig. 9, and only the different parts will be described.
The low-group-sine-wave generator 17 generates a sine wave signal, the cycle of which is equal to the sixteen cycles of the LGFD signal φL. The low-group-sine-wave generator 17 differs from the high-group-sine-wave generator 16 in that an 8-bit shift counter 38, which is comprised of sixteen serially connected DFF circuits D₁ through D₁₆, is adopted. The LGFD signal φL is supplied to the input terminal 28a. In this case, the high level output of the NOR circuit 29 will be the RCL signal.
The capacitances of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₆ are set to be symmetrical. That is, in Fig. 11 the capacitances of the left most and right most capacitors C₁ and C₁₆ are minimum, and those of the center capacitors C₈ and C₉ are maximum. The capacitances of the capacitors C₂ to C₇ and C₁₅ to C₁₀ gradually become greater.
The operation of the low-group-sine-wave generator 17 is similar to that of the high-group-sine-wave generator 16. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 14B, the low-group-sine-wave signal, the cycle of which is equal to sixteen cycles of the LGFD signal φL, can be obtained.
According to the high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are obtained at the output terminal 30 by sequentially varying the voltage applied across the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ and C₁ through C₁₆. Therefore, no stationary current flows, thereby reducing the overall dissipated current and enabling the apparatus to operate at a low power supply voltage.
In the prior-art sine-wave generator, as shown in Fig. 15A, the reference voltages +V and -V are applied across the resistor 39. Furthermore, a plurality of switches SW are connected to the respective predetermined positions of the resistor 39. Thus, by turning on and off the switches SW according to a control signal, a sine wave as shown in Fig. 15B is obtained. Therefore, in the prior art circuit, a stationary current always flows into the resistor 39 so that the dissipated current is high, and it is difficult to operate at a low power supply voltage.
However, the high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17, as shown in Figs. 9 and 13, respectively, reduce the dissipated current, enable the operation at a lower power supply voltage, and facilitate the integration of the DTMF signal generating apparatus with CMOS devices.
To obtain a preferred high-group-sine-wave signal, the ratio of the capacitances of the capacitors C_I through C₁₈ in the high-group-sine-wave generator 16 is set, for example, as in TABLE II when the parallel combined capacitance C_H of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ is set to 1.
In this case, the capacitance ratio of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ is determined as follows. The parallel N combined capacitance
of the capacitor C₁ to the nth capacitor is given by:
when the parallel combined capacitance of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₈ is set to 1. Therefore, the capacitance when N=1, namely, of the capacitor C₁, is given by:
Further, the parallel combined capacitance when N=2, namely, of capacitors C₁ and C₂, is given by:
and the parallel combined capacitance when N=3, namely, of the capacitors C₁ through C₃, is given by:
The parallel combined capacitances thus obtained are summarized as in TABLE III.
For example, when N=2, the capacitance will be (C₁+C₂). Therefore, the capacitance ratio of the capacitor C₂ shown in TABLE II is obtained by subtracting the capacitance when N=1 from (C₁+C₂), that is: 0.0302 - 0.0076 = 0.0226.
The capacitance ratios of the capacitors C₁ through C₁₆ in the low-group-sine-wave generator 17 are also obtained in the same manner as described above and are shown in TABLE IV.
The high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17 can be modified as shown in Fig. 16 in which the modified low-group-sine-wave generator 17 is exemplified. In this modification, eight DFF circuits D₁ through D₈, eight switch circuits S₁ through S₈, and eight capacitors C₁ through C₈ are used. The LGFD signal φL supplied through the input terminal 28a is fed through a half frequency divider 40 to the clock input terminals φ and φ of the respective DFF circuits D₁ through D₈.
According to the above construction, when the LGFD signal φL, as shown in Fig. 17A, is supplied to the input terminal 28a, the output of the half frequency divider 40 will be as shown in Fig. 15B. Then, the DFF circuits D₁ through D₈, switch circuits S₁ through S₈, and capacitors C_l through C₈ are operated as described above, thereby to obtain the low-group-sine-wave signal as shown in Fig. 17C. This low-group-sine-wave signal has a cycle which is equal to sixteen cycles of the LGFD signal φL. the same as the signal in Fig. 14_B except for the resolution. Therefore, when the accuracy is not critical, the construction in Fig. 16 can be adopted, thereby further simplifying the construction. Fig. 17D shows the waveform of the RCL signal.
The high-group-sine-wave generator 16 can also be simplified in the same manner as described above. In this case, the DFF circuits, switch circuits, and capacitors are provided in nines. Then, the HGFD signal φH is divided by half and is supplied to the clock input terminal φ or φ.
The high-group-sine-wave generator 16 can further be constructed as shown in-Fig. 16. That is, the set terminals S of the DFF circuits D₁₀ through D₁₈ are connected to the input terminal 28b. The output levels Q of the DFF circuits D₁ through Dg are reset to low, and the output levels Q of the DFF circuits D₁₀ through D₁₈ are set to high when the level of the power down signal PD is inverted from high to low. Thus, a sine wave signal is obtained. The use of the sine wave signal or the cosine wave signal can arbitrarily be selected.
Also in the low-group-sine-wave generator 17, a sine wave signal is obtained by connecting the set terminals of the respective DFF circuits D₉ through D₁₆ to the input terminal 28b.
Fig. 19 shows the output-signal-mixing circuit 18. The high-group-sine-wave signal from the high-group-sine-wave generator 16 is supplied to the input terminal 41, which is grounded through the serially connected capacitors C_H1 and C_H2. The connection between the capacitors C_H1 and C_H2 is connected through the switch circuit 42 to a power supply terminal 43 to which a reference voltage V_R3 is applied as well as to the non-inverted input terminal "+" of an operational amplifier OP_I. The switch circuit 42 is turned on and off according to the high or low level of the RCH signal generated from the NOR circuit 29 in the high-group-sine-wave generator 16. The circuit having the capacitors CL1 and C_L2, switch circuits 46, and others comprises the low frequency level converter 48.
The operational amplifiers OP₁ and OP₂ comprise a voltage follower in which the respective outputs of the amplifiers OP₁ and OP₂ are connected to the inverted input terminals "-" thereof and serve as buffer amplifiers 49 and 50 for impedance conversion. The output terminals of the buffer amplifiers 49 and 50 are mutually connected through the resistors R₁ and R₂, and the connecting point is connected to the base of the NPN transistor Tr_l. The collector of the transistor Tr₁ is connected to the power supply terminal 51 to which the DC voltage +V_C is applied, and the emitter thereof is connected to the output terminal 52. The buffer amplifiers 49 and 50, the resistors R_I and R₂ and the transistor Tr_l comprise a mixing circuit 53.
In the output-signal-mixing circuit 18 as constructed above, the high-group-sine-wave signal supplied to the input terminal 41 is level converted according to the capacitance ratio C_H1 and C_H2. The switch circuit 42 turns on for every cycle of the level converted signal to thereby shift the level of the signal against the reference voltage V_R3. The low-group-sine-wave signal supplied to the input terminal 45 is also level converted according to the capacitance ratio of the capacitors C_L1 and C_L2. Further, the switch circuit 46 turns on for every cycle of the level converted signal to thereby shift the level of the signal against the reference voltage V_R3. Such a level conversion facilitates combining the voltages at the mixing circuit 53. The high- and low-group-sine-wave signals, which are level converted as described above, are combined in voltage through the buffer amplifiers 49 and 50 and the resistors R₁ and R₂, respectively, and then current converted by the transistor Tr_l to be produced in the telephone communication line as the DTMF signal through the output terminal 52.
In summary, the output-signal-mixing circuit 18 serves to give the DTMF signal a voltage amplitude and an output impedance adapted to be fed to the telephone communication line.
Thus, according to the output-signal-mixing circuit 18, since the input impedance of the buffer amplifiers 49 and 50 at the signal input section of the mixing circuit 53 is high, level converters 44 and 48 with high impedance, that is, with capacitors C_H1, C_H2, C_L1 and C_L2 which serves as the signal supplying section to the mixing circuit 53, can be adopted to thereby obtain a suitable DTMF signal and to simplify its construction.
In the prior art output-signal-mixing circuit, as shown in Fig. 20A, the currents of the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals supplied to the input terminals 54 and 55 are summed in term of current through the resistors R₃ and R₄ to obtain the DTMF signal from the output terminal 56 through the transistors Tr₂ and Tr₃, or as shown in Fig. 20B, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are combined through the resistors R₅ and R₆ to obtain the DTMF signal from the output terminal 60 through the amplifier 59, which comprises an operational amplifier OP₃, and a resistor R₇. Therefore, because of low input impedance, only an input signal source with low impedance can be used, and it is especially difficult to operate at a low voltage.
However, according to the output-signal-mixing circuit 18, the capacitive elements as described above can be used as the input signal source.
Figs. 21 through 25 show ether embodiments of the output-signal-mixing circuit. In the output-signal- nixing circuit in Fig. 21, the buffer amplifiers 49 and 50 using the N channel MOS transistors Q₃ through Q₆ form a source follower. Such a simple construction makes it possible to raise the input impedance and lower the output impedance as well as to facilitate the low voltage operation.
In another embodiment shown in Fig. 22, N channel MOS transistors Q₇ through Q₉ form source coupled pairs. The combined source voltage of the transistors Q₇ and Q₈ is output as the DTMF signal.
Furthermore, in another embodiment of Fig. 23, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are combined through integrators comprising capacitors 61a and 62a, operational amplifiers OP₄ and OP₅, and resistors R₈ and R₉. The combined signal is output as the DTMF signal through an amplifier 63 comprising a resistor R₁₀ and an operational amplifier OP₆.
Yet in another embodiment shown in Fig. 24, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are combined through similar source follower circuits 66 and 67 and resistors R₁₁ and R₁₂ shown in Fig. 19. The DTMF signal is obtained through an amplifier comprising an operational amplifier OP₇, resistors R₁₃, R₁₄ and R₁₅, and a transistor Tr₄. The voltage applied at an inverted input terminal "-" of the operational amplifier OP7 is achieved from the reference voltage V_R4 through a source follower circuit 69. The resistor R₁₃ is provided for an input resistance of the operational amplifier OP₇, and the resistors R₁₄ and R₁₅ are provided for adjusting the gain of the amplifier 68.
Furthermore, in another embodiment in Fig. 25, the combined signal of resistors R₁₁ and R₁₂ is fed to a transistor Tr₄ through an amplifier 70 comprising an operational amplifier OP₃ and resistors R₁₆ and R₁₇. In this case, the resistor R₁₆ serves to adjust the gain of the amplifier 70, and the resistor R₁₇ serves as an input resistor for the operational amplifier OP₂.
If no level conversions of the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals are required, in the output-signal-mixing circuit 18, the high- and low-group-sine-wave signals output from the high- and low-group-sine-wave generators 16 and 17 may be combined without passing through the high and low group level converting circuits 44 and 48, as described above.
Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous arrangements, modifications, and substitutions of its parts and elements without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A dual-tone multiple-frequency-signal generating means including frequency dividing and sine-wave-signal generating means for dividing a reference frequency signal from a reference-frequency-signal generator (11) into first and second divided frequencies and for generating first and second sine wave signals having approximately the same cycles as those of first and second standard frequencies using the first and second divided frequencies, and mixing means for combining the first and second sine wave signals output from said sine-wave-signal generating means (16, 17) and for sending the combined signal to a telephone communication line as a dual-tone multiple frequency signal characterized in that said mixing means comprises:

first level converting means (C_H1, C_H2, 42) with high input impedance for receiving and level converting the first sine wave signal;

second level converting means (CL₁, C_L2, 46) with high input impedance for receiving and level converting the second sine wave signal; and

combining means (OP₁, OP₂, R₁, R₂, Tr_l) connected to said first and second level converting means for combining the first and second level converting sine wave signals output from said first and second level converting means to produce the dual-tone multiple frequency signal.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first level converting means (CH₁, CH₂, 42) comprises:

first and second serially connected capacitors (C_R1, C_H2) in which the terminal on one side of the capacitors is supplied with the first sine wave signal and the terminal on the other side thereof is grounded; and

a switch circuit (42) with one terminal connected to a reference voltage and other terminal connected to a connection of said first and second capacitors.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said second level converting means (C_L1, ^C _L2, 46) comprises:

first and second serially connected capacitors in which the terminal on one side of the capacitors is supplied with the second sine wave signal and the terminal on the other side thereof is grounded; and

a switch circuit (46) with one terminal connected to a reference voltage and other terminals connected to a connection of said first and second capacitors.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second level converting means (C_H1, ^C _H2, ⁴2, C_L1, C_L2, 46) comprise:

first and second serially connected capacitors (C_H1, C_H2, C_L1, C_L2) in which the terminals on one side of the capacitors are supplied with the first and second sine wave signals, respectively, and the terminals on the other side thereof are grounded; and

switch circuits (42, 46) with the terminals on one side of the switch circuits connected to a reference voltage and the terminals on the other side thereof connected to a connection of said first and second capacitors,

and that said mixing means (OP₁, OP₂, Ri, R₂, Tr_l) comprises:

first and second buffer amplifiers (OP₁, OP₂) connected to the connection of said first and second capacitors for performing an impedance conversion;

first and second serially connected resistors (R₁, R₂) with the terminals on one side of the resistors connected to the outputs of said first and second buffer amplifiers and the terminals on the other side thereof are commonly connected; and

a transistor (^Tr _l) whose base is connected to the common connection of said first and second resistors.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said first and second buffer amplifiers (OP₁, OP₂) comprise operational amplifiers whose positive input terminals are connected to the connection of said first and second capacitors and whose negative input terminals are connected to the output terminals thereof.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first and second level converting means (C_H1, C_H2, 42, C_L1, C_L2, 46) comprises:

first and second serially connected capacitors with the terminals on one side of the capacitors supplied with the first and second sine wave signals; and

switch circuits (42, 46) with the terminals on one side thereof connected to a reference voltage and the terminals on the other side thereof connected to the connection of said first and second capacitors,

and that said mixing means comprises:

first and second MOS transistors (Q₃, Q₄, Q₅, Q₆) in which a gate of one MOS transistor is connected to the connection of said first and second capacitors to form a source follower; and

output resistors (R₁, R₂) connected to the serial connection of said first and second transistors.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second level converting means and said mixing means comprise:

first and second MOS transistors (Q₇, Q₈) whose sources are commonly connected and serve as source coupled pairs; and -

a third MOS transistor (Qg) whose drain is connected to the common connection of sources of said first and second MOS transistors and serves as a load, the source combined voltage being produced as a dual-tone multiple frequency signal.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second level converting means and said mixing means comprise:

first and second integrators (61, 62);

first and second switch circuits connected to said first and second integrators in parallel, respectively; and

an operational amplifier (63) connected to the common connection of said first and second integrators for producing a combined output signal from said first and second integrators as a dual-tone multiple frequency signal.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second level converting means and said mixing means comprise:

first and second source follower circuits (66, 67) whose outputs are commonly connected through a resistor so as to receive the first and second sine wave signals and to produce the combined signal;

operational amplifiers (OP₇) whose positive input terminals are supplied with a combined signal of the first and second sine wave signals and whose negative input terminals are supplied with a reference voltage through a third source follower circuit; and

a transistor (Tr₄) connected to the output of said operational amplifiers.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the output of the operational amplifier (_OP7) is fed back to its negative input terminal through a resistor.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that-said first and second level converting means and said mixing means comprise:

operational amplifiers (OP₈) whose negative input terminal is supplied with a combined signal of the first and second sine wave signals and whose positive input terminal is supplied with a reference voltage through a third source follower circuit (69); and

a transistor (Tr₄) connected to the output of said operational amplifiers.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the output of the operational amplifier (OO₈) is fed back to its negative input terminal through a resistor.

13. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said sine-wave-signal generating means (16, 17) comprises:

shifting means which comprises a plurality of bi-stable circuits and which sequentially shifts the divided frequency signal from said frequency dividing means within predetermined periods;

a plurality of switches (S₁ through S₁₈ and S₁ through S₁₆) for selectively passing the first and second voltage levels, which are different than each other, corresponding to the outputs of the respective bi-stable circuits in said shifting means; and

a plurality of capacitive elements (C_l through C₁₈ and C₁ through C₁₆) in which the terminals on one side of the capacitive elements are supplied with the first or second voltage level passed by the plurality of switches and the terminals on the other side thereof are commonly connected, the first or second voltage level being applied to the common connection for every cycle of said shifting means to produce sine wave signals from the plurality of common connections.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said reference-frequency-signal generating means (11) includes a MOS device (llf) and a natural frequency element (llc) and for generating a reference frequency signal having an oscillating frequency of approximately 480 KHz.

15. An apparatus according to claims 1 through 12, characterized by further comprising keyboard interface means (12), connected to said key input means (15) and said frequency dividing means (13, 14), for supplying to said frequency dividing means division ratios for achieving the said first and second divided frequencies using the reference frequency signal from the reference-frequency-signal generating means (11), corresponding to a key actuated in said key input means (15).